"When Rupp goes out, to me it's the right call to bring Sean back because he fills that role. Sean's best strength are his legs; he's a terrific skater, and a big part of his game is forechecking and playing below the hash marks.

"We want him to play to his strengths and work on his play away from that, but that's not different than any player we might call up at any time," the coach said. "It's not that convoluted. We want guys to do the best they can to help us win a hockey game."

Look, the hyperbole about this recall is well-documented. He's 31-year-old who scores a point every three games. He's a grinder, a quality forechecker and a frequent sideshow. His recall is being over-celebrated by Rangers fans who apparently missed the fact that Avery's spark was necessary to end the Sharks' 5-game winning road win streak last night.

But honestly: Injury recall or not, this is incredible.

Avery's NHL career appeared over when he was cut; not just his career with the Rangers. It was assumed he and Tortorella could never co-exist again, and yet here he is back in Manhattan.

Avery was Tortorella's final cut of training camp among the forwards, an NHL veteran suffering the indignity of having to leave the team on its season-opening European trip to join the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League. After taking some time to recover from a shoulder injury, Avery played for the Whale in a pair of wins this weekend. "He was great to the guys, great with me," said Andre Deveaux(notes), who made his Rangers debut Monday on the fourth line after spending the opening month of the season in Connecticut. "I'm glad he is on my team."

In between his demotion and promotion, there was an emphatic "Occupy MSG" protest with banners and chants in support of Avery. Four days later, they wanted Avery and now they got him, even if it's until Rupp heals.

Predictability has never been in Avery's repertoire, but even this reversal was bewildering.